Sheet dispenser

ABSTRACT

A container or drawer for storing a stack of sheets, and feeding sheets one-by-one from the stack, includes a feed mechanism comprising a manual lever swingable between the top and bottom boundry planes of the drawer and mechanically connected to feed elements resting on the paper stack through a speed augmenting gearing and a one-way clutch.

United States Patent 1191 1111 3,825,249 Zimmer 1 July 23, 1974 SHEETDISPENSER 3,026,732 3/1962 C0rvisier.... 74/125.5 x 3,126,122 3/1964Sacre .1221/259 X [75] Inventor R0118" 3,617,426 11/1971 Grundman 192107 M 73 Assigneez Addressograph Mumgraph 3,673,879 7/1972 Plate et a174/125.5

Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio Primary ExaminerEvon C. Blunk [22] Flled'1973 Assistant Examiner-JamesW. Miller [21] Appl. No.: 331,916 Attorney,Agent, or Firm-Russell L. Root [52] US. Cl 271/ 109, 74/125.5, 74/142,57 ABSTRACT 192/46,192/107 M, 221/43, 221/259, 271/114 1 5 In. B65]l 3 01 13 00 h 27/02 A COlltElllZlCl O1 drawer for StOI'lIlg a stack of$118615, 58 Field of Search; 221/42, 43, 259; 271/116, and feedmg SheetsP P the Stack,

271/114 192/107 M 74/125 5 142 cludes a'feed mechanism comprislng amanual lever r swingable between the top and bottom boundry planes ofthe drawer and mechanically connected to feed ele- [56] References Citedments resting on the paper stack through a speed aug- UNITED STATESPATENTS menting gearing and a one-way clutch. 1,988,732 1/1935 Hawley221/259 X 1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figures SHEET DISPENSER I This inventionrelates to sheet dispensers and especially to a simple, low-cost devicefor readily feeding sheets one-by-one from a stack of sheets held in aprotective housing. The'feeding is effected by a manual operation whichmay be repeated to control the degree to which the sheet is projected,and the arrangement is especially effective for handling sheets of largearea.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which FIG.1 is a top plan of the container and feeding device of the presentinvention with portions broken away;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a detail plan to an enlarged scale with parts broken away, andis taken substantially on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation, with parts broken away, of the apparatusshown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a section taken substantially on line 5-5 of FIG. 4; g

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of one element of the clutch mechanism; and

' FIGS. 7 and 8 are detail sections of the clutch mechanism takensubstantially on line 7-7 of FIG. 4 and illustrating different phases ofthe clutch operation.

Referring to FIGS. '1 and 2, there is provided a container or tray 10designed to receive'a stack of sheets, for example photosensitive sheetsfor use in connection with a diazo white print machine. The containermay' take the form of a drawer as shown, so that its open top will beclosed by the surrounding structure, or may be provided with a removableclosure (not shown) as will be readily apparent.

The bottom of the container is constructed with an upwardly slopingguide surface 12 leading to an exit point 14 where the paper sheetwillemerge from a suitable slot in the cover if provided, or from anopening provided by moving the drawer to a position slightly forward ofthe fully closed position.

A stack of paper (not shown) is placed in the drawer 12 with itsforward-end resting on a portion of the guide surface, and the means fordispensing the paper-includes feed rollers 16 provided with frictionsurfaces, for example of rubber. Each roller is rotatively supported inthe free end of an arm 18'which is rockably supported-on a shaft 20.Counter-weights 22 of appropriate mass are provided so that the weightof arms 18 will be in part counteracted, and rollers 16 will rest withthe optimum pressure on the top of the paper stack, the arms graduallyswinging downwardly as paper is withdrawn from the stack to follow thetop of the stack and continue to rest the feed rollers on the top sheetuntil all sheets havebeen dispensed.

The shaft 20, as well as rockably supporting the arms, serves as acomponent of the drive train for the feed rollers 16, and as suchcarries two pulleys 21 drivingly connected thereto. Belts 24 connect thepulleys 21 with the feed rollers 16 so that rotation of the formerproduces corresponding rotation of the latter.

As can be seen in FIG. 2 of the drawing, the swing of arms 18 is limitedby the top of the paper stack and the top cover of the tray. In order tostore a reasonable amount of paper in the shallow tray, it is apparentthat the diameter of feed rollers 16 must be kept at a small value toavoid usurping paper stack space.

An exceedingly compact means is provided making it possible for theoperator to manually advance the top sheet of the stack by rotating theshaft 20. A flat lever bar 26 provided with a finger piece 28 ispivotally mounted as at 30 on one side of the container 10. A torsionspring 32 urges the lever in a counterclockwise direction (i.e., in adirection to raise the finger piece 28), and the travel of the lever iscurtailed by a stop member 34 which limits the upward motion of thelever by striking against a flange 10a on the container, or against thesurrounding portions of the cabinet when the container is used as adrawer. Downward travel of the lever is likewise limited by contact ofthe stop member 34 with the support surface on which the containerrests. Accordingly the swinging motion of the lever is confined betweenthe upper and lower boundary planes of the drawer.

As illustrated particularly in FIGS. 3 to 5, the end of the lever 26remote from the finger piece 28 carries a gear sector 36 which mesheswith a pinion 38 rotatable ona post 39 affixed to the wall of thecontainer 10. The pinion 38, through a one way clutch 40, drives aninternal gear 50, also rotatable on the post 39, which meshes with apinion 52 affixed to the end of the shaft 20 to drive'the same. v

The one way clutch 40 is arranged to effect a driving connection betweenthe pinion 38 and gear 50. on the downward stroke of the finger piece 28(which causes an upward stroke of the sector 36), and a release actionon the return stroke. Thus it will be seen that a depression of thefinger piece 28 causes counterclockwise rotation of the pinion 38 whichcarries the gear 50 also in a counterclockwise direction, thus turningthe pinion 52 counterclockwise, and the shaft 20, pulleys 22 and feedrollers 16 all counterclockwise, thus acting to feed a sheet from thetop of the stack to a graspable position. .On the return stroke of thelever, all parts of the mechanical train remain stationary except thesegment 36, the pinion 38 and the connected'clutch part.

An unusually inexpensive and effective clutch arrangement has beenprovided and comprises a drive portion 42 integrally formed with thepinion 38. The drive portion 42 comprises a cup 44 in which is affixed astiff pile fabric 46 so constructed that all of the pile elements aresloped with respect to the surface of the fabric, and this slope has auniform angle to the surface in planes which are approximately normal tothe surface, and also normal to the radius of the cup passing throughthe pile element.

The driven portion of the clutch consists of foraminous sheet elementsuch as a fine screen 48 which is integrally attached to the outer faceof the gear 50 and mates with the pile fabric 46.- It receives its drivefrom the fabric when the pinion 38 and cup 44 are rotated in acounterclockwise direction. This is a direction which crowds pileelements, because of their slope angle, into the openings in the screenand causes a driving relationship to exist as illustrated in FIG. 7. Onthe return stroke, when the pinion 38 and cup 44 are rotated in aclockwise direction, the pile elements will not dig into the screen butwill rather, because of their slope, be'cammed aside, allowing thescreen 48 and gear 50 to remain stationary, as seen in FIG. 8.

The geometry and arrangement of the gear train parts is of particularinterest from the standpoint of making it possible to accommodate aneffective operating pattern within the height of a drawer. Since paperstacks are rather heavy, it is customary to limit the drawer height toprevent overloading. A usual paper drawer might have a height of between3 and 4 inches. This means that the stroke of the inner or operating endof the lever, if carrying a gear sector, can have a maximum throw ofabout one-half of the drawer height, i. e. 1% to 2 inches, and theoperating arm can be adjusted to any suitable length so as to provide atravel of one fulldrawer height by the finger piece 28. To take fulladvantage of this limited sector stroke, the axis of the driven pinionshould be approximately midway of the drawer height. By having thiscentralized pinion 38 drive a larger internal gear 50, it is possible toachieve several important ends simultaneously as follows:

1. The shaft can occupy an upwardly offset location so as to be abovethe paper stack.

2. The direction of rotation of the shaft 20 is of the proper hand tofeed sheets out of the drawer at the end near the finger piece 28.

3. Sufficient mechanical advantage is introduced to provide for adequatesheet motion in spiteof the severe limitations on lever travel, so thatonly one or two operations of the lever are needed to project the sheetfar enough to be readily graspable. In the particular construction shownthe ratio as between sheet travel and finger piece travel is about 3: 1.In any case a travel, ratio of at least about 2:1 would be required foreffective use under the circumstances. Note should also be taken of thearrangement of the counterweights 22 on the overhanging ends of arms 18previously described. It is important that the feed rollers 16 press onthe top sheet of the stack within an appropriate range of pressuresdepending upon the frictional characteristics of the paper being fed. Ifthe pressure is too light feeding will not occur or will be erratic. Ifthe pressure is too great a tendency to feed plural sheets is noticed.Thus, by replacing the counterweights 22 with others of different valueit is possible to accommodate paper sheets of different sizes, weightsand surface characteristics in the present device.

In operation, the arms 18 are lifted and a stack of paper is introducedbeneath them with the forward margin underlying the feed rolls 16, whichare allowed to fall into contact with the top sheet by gravity. If thedevice is in use as a drawer in a cabinet, the drawer is then closed toprotect the paper from dust, or, if the paper is photosensitive, fromlight. When it is desired to withdraw a sheet for use, the drawer isopened slightly and the operator depresses the finger piece once ortwice, the same being returned to home position each time by the spring32. This projects the top sheet of the stack sufficiently to be grasped,whereupon the operator grasps the leading margin and withdrawswithdrawn.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been described indetail, it will be understood that addi- 4 tions, eliminations andmodifications may be made without departing from the ambit of theinvention as defined in the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Sheet storing and feeding means comprising:

a. a shallow tray defining parallel upper and lower planes, having lowside walls and including guide means for guiding to a discharge point asheet forwarded from the top of a stack held in the tray;

b. a shaft extending across the tray and supported rotatably on saidside walls;

c. an arm rockable on the shaft and carrying at its free end a feedroller resting on the top of the stack of sheets;

d. a drive member rotatable with the shaft and a belt connecting saiddrive member and said feed roller for effecting rotation of the latterby the former; and

e. means to rotate said shaft in one direction only comprising: anoscillating lever disposed for convenient manual actuation with a swingno greater than between said upper and lower planes and carrying a gearsegment, and a gear train operatively connecting said gear segment andsaid shaft including:

1. a first small pinion of n teeth meshing with said segment,

2. a first element of a one-way clutch coaxial and integral with saidfirst pinion,

3. a large internal gear having at least 2n teeth mounted coaxially withsaid first small pinion and approaching the height of said side wall indiame-' ter,

4. a second element of a one-way clutch coaxial and integral with saidinternal gear and coacting with said first oneway clutch element, and

5. a second small pinion having a number of teeth of the order ofmagnitude of the number of teeth in said first small pinion, drivinglyassociated with said shaft and meshing with said internal gear.

1. Sheet storing and feeding means comprising: a. a shallow traydefining parallel upper and lower planes, having low side walls andincluding guide means for guiding to a discharge point a sheet forwardedfrom the top of a stack held in the tray; b. a shaft extending acrossthe tray and supported rotatably on said side walls; c. an arm rockableon the shaft and carrying at its free end a feed roller resting on thetop of the stack of sheets; d. a drive member rotatable with the shaftaNd a belt connecting said drive member and said feed roller foreffecting rotation of the latter by the former; and e. means to rotatesaid shaft in one direction only comprising: an oscillating leverdisposed for convenient manual actuation with a swing no greater thanbetween said upper and lower planes and carrying a gear segment, and agear train operatively connecting said gear segment and said shaftincluding:
 1. a first small pinion of n teeth meshing with said segment,2. a first element of a one-way clutch coaxial and integral with saidfirst pinion,
 3. a large internal gear having at least 2n teeth mountedcoaxially with said first small pinion and approaching the height ofsaid side wall in diameter,
 4. a second element of a one-way clutchcoaxial and integral with said internal gear and coacting with saidfirst oneway clutch element, and
 5. a second small pinion having anumber of teeth of the order of magnitude of the number of teeth in saidfirst small pinion, drivingly associated with said shaft and meshingwith said internal gear.
 2. a first element of a one-way clutch coaxialand integral with said first pinion,
 3. a large internal gear having atleast 2n teeth mounted coaxially with said first small pinion andapproaching the height of said side wall in diameter,
 4. a secondelement of a one-way clutch coaxial and integral with said internal gearand coacting with said first oneway clutch element, and
 5. a secondsmall pinion having a number of teeth of the order of magnitude of thenumber of teeth in said first small pinion, drivingly associated withsaid shaft and meshing with said internal gear.